Former East/Former West

Shot in Berlin in 1992-93 after reunification, Former East/Former West is an essay about national identity in post-Cold War Germany. Hundreds of street interviews, conducted throughout the city, document how the people of Berlin view their lives, their city, their nation — three years after the fall of the Wall and two years after the reunification of East and West. For forty-five years, residents of the divided city lived radically different lives, both in terms of ideology and everyday experience. Silver questions the very notion of a shared language, focusing on changing definitions of words for political and economic systems — democracy, freedom, capitalism, socialism — and words used to describe nations and identity — nationality, Germany, history, foreigners, home. Uncovering personal and ideological concepts of boundaries and German identity (who belongs and who doesn't), Silver explores the meanings and uses of national identity.